In Session » Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics
Tennessee PoliticsMon, 07 Apr 2014 14:51:50 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6Former TN Democratic Party leader Jennifer Buck Wallace gearing up for House racehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/former-tn-democratic-party-leader-jennifer-buck-wallace-gearing-up-for-house-race/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/former-tn-democratic-party-leader-jennifer-buck-wallace-gearing-up-for-house-race/#commentsMon, 17 Mar 2014 22:49:53 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=21089Jennifer Buck Wallace, who helped candidates for four years as operations director and then executive director of the Tennessee Democratic Party, is getting ready to become one herself.

Wallace, 38, appointed a treasurer for the House District 51 race last week. She said today that she hopes to hold a campaign kickoff at the end of this month.

Wallace, who lives in the Germantown neighborhood, said she shares the “same values and also the same fighter mentality” that retiring state Rep. Mike Turner has brought to the district since he was first elected in 2000. She said she would fight for Nashville’s independence from the state legislature, which has made noise lately with several efforts to influence the city’s direction.

“People in Nashville care when the state is stepping in and trying to dictate what kind of city we are and can become,” she said. “Most people want those decisions to be made at a local level.”

Wallace now works for Organizing for Action, the group that works to turn grass-roots action into legislative support for President Barack Obama’s initiatives, as its Tennessee development director.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/former-tn-democratic-party-leader-jennifer-buck-wallace-gearing-up-for-house-race/feed/0Attorney Bill Beck throws hat in House District 51 ringhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/attorney-bill-beck-throws-hat-in-house-district-51-ring/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/attorney-bill-beck-throws-hat-in-house-district-51-ring/#commentsThu, 13 Mar 2014 16:13:35 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=21082Attorney Carson W. “Bill” Beck said today that he’ll run to succeed retiring state Rep. Mike Turner in the House District 51 seat stretching from Germantown to Old Hickory.

Beck, a Democrat who lives and works in Inglewood, said he decided to run after Metro Councilman Anthony Davis told him Monday night that he wouldn’t.

“What the district needs most (is) unity,” he said. “We need to come together and bridge from Old Hickory to Germantown and decide how this whole corridor – that’s how I look at the district – will go forward in the future. We want to see the district continue to thrive and go forward.”

Beck, 52, said he’s never run for office but has worked in numerous campaigns over the past 30 years. He and his mother practice law together after attending Nashville School of Law together in the 1980s, while his brother and father run a real estate firm out of the same building on Gallatin Pike.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/attorney-bill-beck-throws-hat-in-house-district-51-ring/feed/0Big city mayors oppose anti-Amp legislation in letter to lawmakershttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/big-city-mayors-oppose-anti-amp-legislation-in-letter-to-lawmakers/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/big-city-mayors-oppose-anti-amp-legislation-in-letter-to-lawmakers/#commentsWed, 12 Mar 2014 16:16:34 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=21068Mayor Karl Dean and his counterparts in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis urged members of the House and Senate transportation committees today to reject legislation that would block Nashville’s bus rapid transit project.

“This legislation is redundant and overreaching given the fact that the project has been adopted into the Nashville Area MPO plan and work program, both of which are approved with the Governor’s concurrence,” the “Big 4″ mayors wrote in a letter released today. “We ask that you vote against this bill as it could have unintended consequences on our ability to manage growth in all four large cities in Tennessee, which would be detrimental to not only our regions, but our state’s economy as a whole.”

Both transportation committees are scheduled to debate the legislation this afternoon.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/big-city-mayors-oppose-anti-amp-legislation-in-letter-to-lawmakers/feed/0To-go cup kerfuffle might lead Metro councilman to ask lobbyists for regular briefingshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/to-go-cup-kerfuffle-might-lead-metro-councilman-to-ask-lobbyists-for-regular-briefings/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/to-go-cup-kerfuffle-might-lead-metro-councilman-to-ask-lobbyists-for-regular-briefings/#commentsWed, 12 Mar 2014 16:00:17 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=21064When the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. got state representatives to introduce enabling legislation that would make it possible for downtown bars to sell to-go cups of alcohol, Metro Council members were caught off guard.

That’s not how it ought to work, Councilman Tim Garrett said.

Garrett, a former state legislator, said he might try to require lobbyists for the tourism agency and other organizations receiving city dollars, such as Metro Schools, to provide regular reports to the council about their activities at the General Assembly. He said hearing from lobbyists once a week when the state legislature is in session and once a quarter when it’s not seems reasonable.

“I’ll probably ruffle a few feathers,” he said. “But why would it ruffle feathers if it’s just information? It just means we would try to know what’s going on.”

With a regular information flow, Garrett added after the to-go cups bills came to light last week, “I wouldn’t be getting calls like this about the red Solo cup.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/to-go-cup-kerfuffle-might-lead-metro-councilman-to-ask-lobbyists-for-regular-briefings/feed/0Metro Councilman Anthony Davis won’t seek state House seathttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/metro-councilman-anthony-davis-wont-seek-state-house-seat/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/metro-councilman-anthony-davis-wont-seek-state-house-seat/#commentsTue, 11 Mar 2014 16:00:15 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=21054Metro Councilman Anthony Davis has decided not to run for the Tennessee House District 51 seat that came open with state Rep. Mike Turner’s recent retirement announcement, Davis said today.

“My focus currently is on representing my constituents on the Metro Council, and becoming a leader in our body,” he said in a statement. “I weighed this decision heavily, as it would be a great opportunity to serve. We have several great progressives waiting to step up, and I can continue to serve East Nashville and Madison well on the Metro Council.”

Davis was elected to the council in 2011 and can run for re-election next year.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/metro-councilman-anthony-davis-wont-seek-state-house-seat/feed/0Metro Council candidate’s tweet compares President Obama to Adolf Hitlerhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/metro-council-candidates-tweet-compares-president-obama-to-adolf-hitler/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/metro-council-candidates-tweet-compares-president-obama-to-adolf-hitler/#commentsTue, 04 Mar 2014 19:36:03 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=21033Jeremy Hayes, who says he’s running for a Metro Council seat from Donelson next year, posted a tweet last night that raised some eyebrows in the Nashville politisphere.

The tweet implicitly compared President Barack Obama to infamous German dictator and mass murderer Adolf Hitler. It showed a picture of Hitler talking on the phone under a word bubble that says, “Fortunately, I don’t have to wait for legislation. I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone.” Hayes wrote, “Sound familiar?”

But Obama hasn’t gassed millions of his own people. Comparisons to Hitler seem to come along more frequently these days as the last people who lived through his reign of terror die off. But such comparisons still cross a political line that’s not terribly difficult to see.

Reached this afternoon, Hayes said a marketing firm posts many of his tweets. He said he hadn’t seen this particular one, which was posted around 7:30 p.m. Monday, and wasn’t comfortable commenting on it immediately.

But he added, “I do believe the current administration is expanding the power of the federal government in a way that could potentially be very frightening for many people. It’s a very scary time.”

Asked if that was different than the mass murder of a race of people, Hayes admitted, “You know, I completely agree with you, it is.”

A few minutes later, Hayes called back to say he had reviewed the tweet, deleted it and promptly fired the marketing firm, which he declined to identify.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” he said. “That’s not something that I want to represent myself as a Christian.”

Hayes says he’s running for the District 14 council seat, which Councilman Bruce Stanley will be vacating next year after two terms. Hayes’s Twitter profile describes him as, “Christian. Husband. Pro-Life. Conservative. Small Government. Low Taxes.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/metro-council-candidates-tweet-compares-president-obama-to-adolf-hitler/feed/0John Ray Clemmons planning to challenge Gary Odom in Democratic primaryhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/john-ray-clemmons-planning-to-challenge-gary-odom-in-democratic-primary/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/john-ray-clemmons-planning-to-challenge-gary-odom-in-democratic-primary/#commentsThu, 27 Feb 2014 19:48:00 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=21020John Ray Clemmons, a Nashville attorney and neighborhood activist with years of experience in local and state politics, said he plans to run to unseat longtime state Rep. Gary Odom in this year’s Democratic primary.

Clemmons told The Tennessean he picked up a candidate qualifying petition this afternoon and will appoint a campaign treasurer soon so he can start raising money.

“It’s time for a change,” he said. “Our city and state need young, progressive leaders in office to move this state forward and focus on the issues that really matter to hard-working Tennesseans, like education, health care and jobs. The same old people doing things the same old way is not going to cut it.”

Clemmons, 36, will face a formidable opponent in Odom, who was first elected to the House in 1986 and also served on the Metro Council from 1983 to 1995. Odom was the House Democratic leader for four years.

Clemmons is chairman of the board of Nashville RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) and recently stepped down as president of Belmont-Hillsboro Neighbors. He’s a member of the Metro board that oversees the Tennessee State Fairgrounds and a former member of the Tennessee Civil Service Commission.

He ran unsuccessfully in 2009 for a Metro Council seat that came open through a member’s resignation. He also helped run the 2007 mayoral campaign of former U.S. Rep. Bob Clement, who lost in a runoff to Karl Dean, and he’s a former political director of the Tennessee Democratic Party.

Clemmons is not related to John E. Clemmons, 66, an attorney serving an 18-year prison term after being convicted of stealing more than $1 million from his wards in conservatorship cases.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/john-ray-clemmons-planning-to-challenge-gary-odom-in-democratic-primary/feed/0Councilman calls for annual Metro debt reporthttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/councilman-calls-for-annual-metro-debt-report/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/councilman-calls-for-annual-metro-debt-report/#commentsWed, 26 Feb 2014 22:04:38 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=21015As the Metro Council shows signs of taking a closer look at Mayor Karl Dean’s building plans, Councilman Phil Claiborne has introduced legislation that would require the mayor’s administration to deliver a report on the city’s debt by May 1 each year.

The report would be due at the same time as the mayor’s operating budget proposal, giving the council a broader view of the city’s finances as it starts to finalize spending and revenue plans.

“I want to draw attention to the fact that we’re writing checks, but the money has to come from somewhere,” Claiborne said. “So where is it coming from, and how are we paying it off, and where are we in the process of doing that?

“It’s just an awareness kind of thing to float that to the top so it’s in front of everybody. Whether they want to pay attention to it or not, it’s going to be there.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/councilman-calls-for-annual-metro-debt-report/feed/0Justice Clarence Thomas set to speak – softly – at Vanderbilt Law Schoolhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/justice-clarence-thomas-set-to-speak-softly-at-vanderbilt-law-school/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/justice-clarence-thomas-set-to-speak-softly-at-vanderbilt-law-school/#commentsTue, 25 Feb 2014 18:51:58 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=21011The most sphinx-like U.S. Supreme Court justice is scheduled to speak next month in Nashville. But he won’t be revealing anything about himself to a large audience.

Justice Clarence Thomas is on tap to give the 2014 Cecil Sims Lecture at Vanderbilt Law School on March 18. Thomas, who has served on the high court since 1991 and once went seven years without commenting in court, also will “spend a day meeting with students and faculty here,” the law school’s dean, Chris Guthrie, wrote in an email to alumni Monday.

The public outside Vanderbilt’s campus won’t get the same opportunity, however. The 4 p.m. lecture will be an invitation-only event exclusively for the Vanderbilt community, with no reporters or photographers – or even cell phones – allowed in.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/justice-clarence-thomas-set-to-speak-softly-at-vanderbilt-law-school/feed/0Michael Craddock withdraws from Circuit Court clerk racehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/michael-craddock-withdraws-from-circuit-court-clerk-race/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2014/michael-craddock-withdraws-from-circuit-court-clerk-race/#commentsMon, 24 Feb 2014 21:47:21 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=21004Former Metro Councilman Michael Craddock pulled out of the race for Davidson County Circuit Court clerk today, four days after he qualified to run as a Republican and three days before the withdrawal deadline.

Craddock said he’s been battling prostate cancer, and he decided after conferring with his wife and son over the weekend that he wasn’t up for the “arduous campaign” needed to unseat longtime incumbent Richard Rooker. He also said he would hate to have to step down at some point after getting elected if health issues prevented him from serving out his term.

“At the end of the day, reason won out,” he said.

Craddock represented part of Madison on the council from 2003 to 2011.